Home Owner Grant for Seniors

The home owner grant reduces the amount of property taxes you pay each year on your principal residence.

If you’re a senior aged 65 or older, your property is assessed at $1,650,000 or less and you meet certain requirements, you may be eligible for the additional grant of $275 on top of the regular grant of $570. The total grant amount for seniors aged 65 or older is $845 in the Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver Regional District and the Fraser Valley. For all other areas of the province, the total grant amount for seniors aged 65 or older is $1,045.

The homeowner who meets these qualifications must be the one who applies in order to receive the higher grant amount for that residence.

Your Principal Residence

For the purpose of claiming the home owner grant, you can have only one principal residence.

If you own more than one home, you can't designate which one is your principal residence.

Your principal residence is the usual place that you make your home. It’s where you live and conduct your daily affairs, like paying bills and receiving mail, and it’s generally the residence used in your government records for things like your income tax, medical services plan, driver's licence and vehicle registration.

To qualify for the home owner grant, your principal residence must be taxed as an improvement.

You must occupy your principal residence when you apply for the home owner grant. However, if you meet certain requirements you may still be able to apply for the grant if you:

If your property has an assessed value of more than $1,819,000 ($1,859,000 in a northern and rural area), then you aren’t eligible for a home owner grant. You may still qualify for a low income grant supplement, even though you aren’t receiving the home owner grant, and you can apply for the supplement on its own.

Partitioned Value

Partitioning your property value may enable you to claim the home owner grant if:

You previously couldn’t, or could only claim a reduced grant, because of the high assessed value of your property, and

Your property consists of your principal residence and at least one separate residence

The partitioned value of a property is the property’s assessed value divided by the number of residences on that property. To qualify, each residence must have cooking, sleeping, bathroom and living room facilities.

Laneway homes and multi-family dwellings like a duplex, triplex and fourplex qualify as separate residences. A suite in your principal residence doesn’t qualify as a separate residence.

Buying or Selling Your Property

If you are buying or selling a property, there are other factors that will determine the amount that you can claim for the home owner grant.

If you purchased your property during the current tax year, you may be eligible for the home owner grant if you meet the following requirements:

The previous owner didn’t pay all of the property taxes

The previous owner didn’t claim the grant

You didn’t receive a grant this year for another home

You’re occupying the property when you apply for the grant

The home owner grant that you’re eligible to claim will be applied against only the property taxes that the previous owner didn’t pay. Contact the office that issued the property tax notice for more information on how much you can claim for your grant.

Apply

You must apply for the home owner grant each year to receive it. Only one grant can be claimed for a property each year.

Permanent link to page:

Help us improve gov.bc.ca

*Don't provide personal information . Comments will be sent to 'servicebc@gov.bc.ca'

Enter your email address if you would like a reply:

The information on this form is collected under the authority of Sections 26(c) and 27(1)(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to help us assess and respond to your enquiry. Questions about the collection of information can be directed to the Manager of Corporate Web, Government Digital Experience Division.